Burundi Expels Missionary
Episcopal News Service. February 28, 1985 [85042]
NEW YORK (DPS, Feb. 28) -- The Rev. Ephraim L. Radner, an appointed missionary of the Episcopal Church, has been expelled from Burundi, where he was director of the theological college.
Radner, 29, had spent all of his ordained ministry teaching in Burundi. He was expelled only nine weeks after an article he had written on African politics had appeared in The Christian Century. In the article he cited Burundi -- which had begun restricting religious activities two years ago -- as an example of a "will to silence in the face of distressing inner passions and antagonisms."
The article itself was a thoughtful piece on the role of religion in self-conscious, emerging nations struggling with poverty and age-old ethnic hostilities. Unfortunately, it appeared almost simultaneously with two other American articles that were highly critical of Burundi's government. Radner feels certain that this coincidence is what brought him to the attention of the government, but he is not so certain that it was the content that got him the boot.
In mid-January, nine weeks after the article was published, Radner applied for an exit visa to return to the United States for his sister's funeral. Five days later, he was summoned to the Foreign Office and interrogated by senior ministry officials -- including the foreign secretary -- for most of the morning. That very afternoon, his bishop handed him the formal government expulsion notice.
After a quick trip back to the Matana seminary to leave instructions with his colleagues, he was on a plane out of the Burundi capitol within five hours.
The expulsion order alleges that he had "manifested an attitude which threatens to compromise the order, security, and the peace of the public" and asserts that he was therefor no longer "able to fulfill my duties according to the standards demanded by good moral conduct."
After his return, Radner talked with Church Center officials about the incident and reflected on his interview with the foreign secretary. He felt that much of that conversation had dwelt on his teaching methods of encouraging open and free inquiry and consultation andconcluded that it was his presence and attitudes as a teacher rather than any specifically subversive acts or writings that led to his ouster.
The slender soft-spoken missionary concluded: "It was not the content of what I taught... but the method of teaching. I think it highly significant for all of us who take our educating process for granted to realize this fact: like it or not pedagogy is a political act. Given that fact, there was no way I could have escaped the implications and the conflicts arising from the simple act of teaching, whatever the subject."
Radner, a graduate of Dartmouth College and Yale Divinity School, was ordained deacon in 1981 and went immediately to Burundi as a teacher. He was ordained priest in 1982 and named director of the seminary in 1984. He is currently on furlough.
Burundi is a diocese and country within the Anglican province of Rwanda, Burundi and Zaire which emerged in the 1970's as the Francophone Council and was later made a separate province. Radner was the only appointed Episcopal missionary in the country.